The purpose of this project is to identify socially desirable strategies to manage irrigation systems in Ethiopia in order to improve human health, livestock and crop production, and natural resources. Impact assessments of alternative irrigation technologies on different production systems will be carried out. Recommendations for institutional linkages among stakeholders for better water management will be looked at along with management options for water, soil, livestock and crop management. Communities will be engaged in problem identification and there will be aspects of training given to counterparts and postgraduate students. These studies are carried out in Awash and Tekeze basins, Ethiopia.

The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI):
The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) one of the 15 CGIAR Centers works at the crossroads of livestock and poverty, bringing high-quality science and capacity-building to bear on poverty reduction and sustainable development for poor livestock keepers and their communities.

ILRI works in partnerships and alliances with other organizations, national and inter- national, in livestock research, training and information. ILRI works in all tropical developing regions of Africa, Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean. [more on ILRI]

Project Outreach: In October 2005, Wagnew Ayalneh gave an overview to school children showing how the introduction of community-based irrigation in the Awash Basin had many positive and negative effects.

Inception Workshop on IWMI-BOKU-Sieberdorf-EARO-Arbamintch University Collaborative Study on the Impact of Irrigation Development on Poverty and the Environment, 26-30 April 2004, ILRI, Ethiopia. [Program], [see presentation]